Summary of coursework case study 1

Academic year 2009/10

As a group, the responses were good as indicated by having 6 as the most common coursework mark. There were 100 coursework submissions from 101 registered students. Decisions were clearly indicated and facts from the source article were discussed in most responses. Responses with marks of 8 have been highlighted in yellow on the submissions page.

Responses with marks below 7 had these common weaknesses:

Repeating information already provided in the article, such as the type of culture or management approach, is factually correct. But, it does not provide much support for personal views and decisions. Responses that repeated information from the article were more like a summary of the article than explanation of personal decisions. Despite the feedback provided before submission, there were still responses which were mostly just description of the companies and almost no information about the student.

Some responses only put the same label on each company as done in the source article, without any further investigation. Reflective discussion of specific past experiences where workplace limitations had personal effects on the student could have been useful. For students without work experience, reflection on their university experience could have been useful. In depth analysis about a specific management approach and reflection about past experiences could identify strategies for an individual student to be successful in a particular work culture.

Some responses made the incorrect assumption that the views of the author of the source article were the actual company policies.

More generally, the following areas could have been improved or avoided:

Lack of support from outside sources, such as company websites and online magazines, to support decisions or views towards work.

Ideas in some responses were not consistent. For example, a response would start with a statement that enjoyment is most important for career success, but, the remainder of the response only discuss skills development without any relation to enjoyment.

Some responses incorrectly referenced SEMCO as the American company, instead of the Brazilian company founded by Ricardo Semler, which was described in the source article.

The following are provisional marks subject to approval at the Unit Assessment Board. The coursework assignment is available online.